Tag Archives: branding

Thoughts On Branding

Posted 24 August 2010 | By Mike | Categories: Marketing and Advertising, Web 2.0 and Social Media | 6 Comments Thoughts On Branding

In the hope that they will one day evolve into something of substance, I have recently been scribbling down notes on some of the ideas I have around marketing, advertising and communication in general. Bear in mind I share these thoughts purely in my capacity as a consumer – I am no marketing, branding or [...]

My ClassicFM Internet Economy Interview With Reuben Goldberg

Posted 07 December 2008 | By Mike | Categories: Entrepreneurship, Marketing and Advertising, South Africa, Web 2.0 and Social Media | 7 Comments

I was privileged enough to receive an invite from Reuben Goldberg to join him on an episode of his popular talk show The Internet Economy which airs every Friday night from 7-8 on ClassicFM. We spoke about the broad subject of social media in South Africa, the article I wrote the other day (the Next [...]

The Next Step For Social Media

Posted 18 November 2008 | By Mike | Categories: Marketing and Advertising, South Africa, Web 2.0 and Social Media | 7 Comments

The honeymoon is over. Much of the hype and noise surrounding social media and its meteoric rise (especially in the USA) has abated. Perhaps owing to the global economic crisis, arguably due to the apparent lack of sustainable business models and possibly as a result of some semblance of reasonable thinking, we’re no longer reading [...]

Afrigator Launches Adgator Blog Ad Network

Posted 11 November 2008 | By Mike | Categories: Entrepreneurship, Marketing and Advertising, Web 2.0 and Social Media | 9 Comments

Big news from the Afrigator team today is the launch of AdGator – Africa’s first blogging ad network. We always envisioned Afrigator being a platform that bloggers could not only use to ‘market’ their content but also a source of revenue for them, and finally we have a model that allows us to do just [...]

A 20 Minute Talk On Social Media, Consumers And Brands

Posted 18 August 2008 | By Mike | Categories: Marketing and Advertising, Web 2.0 and Social Media | 13 Comments

This is a video of a recent talk I did at the exclusive Tintswalo equestrian estate (note the horse’s bum in the background) with the MasterMind Group of Professional Speakers, of which I’m a member. I decided at the last minute to ditch my PPT slides in aid of the old fashioned approach. Your critical [...]

46 Marketing Mistakes Your Company Is Probably Making

Posted 16 June 2008 | By Mike | Categories: Marketing and Advertising, Random Thoughts, Web 2.0 and Social Media | 4 Comments

One of my professional speaking colleagues, Erik Vermeulen, forwarded a very cool email newsletter to me the other day. Normally that would tick me off but the newsletter, produced by Scott Ginsberg (check out his site and blog, they’re awesome), had an article titled 46 Marketing Mistakes Your Company Is (Probably) Making that caught my eye. I read it an thought I’d share it with you – some of it ought to be familiar already but there are a bunch of cool thoughts I thoroughly enjoyed…

Building A Brand

Posted 26 April 2006 | By Mike | Categories: Entrepreneurship, Life, etc., Marketing and Advertising | No Comments

I attended the inaugural National Speakers Association of South Africa annual convention this past weekend.

It was well worth the investment, and even if watching a multitude of talented, professional overseas and local speakers didn’t result in any life-changing aha-moment (I don’t respond well to motivational talks), there was much self-learning to be done.

The most valuable lesson I’ll take from the weekend is not to underestimate the importance of building your personal brand. This is a difficult one for me, as I feel I need to strike a balance between building a personal brand, not being an egotistical prat and retaining some of what makes me, me.